Cousins Back for Team USA

So time to move Davis to the 4 and start Cousins next to him?

They don't have anyone to replace Durant at PF. it's time to change their entire approach. Go with the AD/DMC front line. NOBODY in international ball besides MAYBE Marc Gasol can defend Mr. Cousins
 
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Wow.
Durant carried Team USA in FIBA play 4 years ago, and they don't win the gold with-out his absolutely lights-out shooting in those games.
This is going to be a very 'new-look' USA team with-out the ultra-elite wings in LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, & Durant, ect. You've got Hayward, Parsons, and Korver filling in those voids.

If Rose is 100% back then they will probably look to him to do a lot more than they were initially expecting. I wonder if this opens up any opportunities for Cousins to potentially get more burn as a scoring big in the post.
 
Uncia03 said:
I wonder if this opens up any opportunities for Cousins to potentially get more burn as a scoring big in the post.
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If they're smart, yes. If they wanna rely on small ball and chucking from the perimeter and pushing Derrick Rose farther than he should be pushed right now, then they will not use Cuz
 
HereWeVivek said:
So time to move Davis to the 4 and start Cousins next to him?

They don't have anyone to replace Durant at PF. it's time to change their entire approach. Go with the AD/DMC front line. NOBODY in international ball besides MAYBE Marc Gasol can defend Mr. Cousins
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One of the biggest reasons Cousins doesn't fit the international game well is because most bigs can shoot the shorter 3, and Team USA has always used mobile bigs to get out on them.

I'd personally like to see Cuz/Davis play together, but I doubt coachK goest there...
 
Hallama said:
One of the biggest reasons Cousins doesn't fit the international game well is because most bigs can shoot the shorter 3, and Team USA has always used mobile bigs to get out on them.
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Very true, but on the other hand, have fun guarding the Davis/Cousins front court
 
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Team USA is going to struggle a bit now. They're gonna have to rely on Irving to create. Don't think the Bulls would be too keen on having Rose play a ton of minutes. This also means Harden is going to be... well James Harden unfortunately. Think this makes Boogie a lock, though.
 
The SF position went from one of the strongest on the team (George, Durant) to one of the weakest (Hayward, Parsons, & Korver). I'm kind of scared for this team defensively. Curry, Harden, Hayward, Davis, & Cousins could struggle defensively (particularly in the backcourt).
 
Let's be honest here, the fact Durant left might be a little bit disappointing and invidious, but yet, there is no other national basketball team who can actually beat the US.
United States national basketball team is in several levels above the rest of the world, the only two national basketball teams who can actually make USA work and sweat a little bit in order to win the coveted trophy are Spain and France which have very talented players and really good chemistry between the players but yet, they still can not beat the US.

I hope the Mundobasket (FIBA basketball world cup) will be very interesting and pleasurable to watch....

Good luck to team USA from Israel.
 
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Chris Herring ✔ @HerringWSJ
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DeMarcus Cousins out here looking at Coach K like:
 
Well we know KD has been very supportive of Cousins. IDK what it has to do with the withdrawal but should be noted.

DMC pretty much HAS to make the team and play at least a significant role now. Obviously KD was going to be relied upon as the go-to scorer, and that role will probably be filled by committee. DMC is certainly one of the stronger candidates to take that mantle (esp. if Rose is limited, either by choice or physically).
 
The basketball world cup is gonna be really interesting now that KD has pulled out.
Parson is the closest guy that can fill-in plays designed for KD. But he can't even hold a candle to KD's handle.

KD can't really be guarded in international games. But after this withdrawal, IMO, only Rose, if he's really back to 100% , is the unguardable player on that roster now.
USAB got pure scorers in the back court who may be surprised by the many tiny speedsters in the international.

DMC should really matter now as inside scoring presence because a lot of teams could actually match up USAB on the wings.
For example:
- France got guys like De Colo, Batum, and Fournier on the wings.
- Slovenia got the speedy Dragics
- Spain is stacked with Rubio, Lull, Navarro, Calderon, with Ibaka and the Gasol towers
- Turkey could be tough inside with Asik and Kanter
 
This means they have to change their whole style unless they plan on starting Parsons or Hayward at the 4 and giving Harden/Rose/Curry the most touches instead of working off KD.

I personally would love to see a starting lineup of Rose, Thompson, Harden, Davis, Cuz. Let Curry play the D wade role as the bench catalyst. With Durant out you need that dynaic wing scorer in Harden to start. Who knows if others will drop out too though, the George injury clearly shook some players minds.
 
twslam07 said:
The SF position went from one of the strongest on the team (George, Durant) to one of the weakest (Hayward, Parsons, & Korver). I'm kind of scared for this team defensively. Curry, Harden, Hayward, Davis, & Cousins could struggle defensively (particularly in the backcourt).
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Well if Anthony Davis and Demarcus Cousins are both playing minutes in the backcourt, something has gone horribly wrong.
 
TheJewishKing said:
Let's be honest here, the fact Durant left might be a little bit disappointing and invidious, but yet, there is no other national basketball team who can actually beat the US.
United States national basketball team is in several levels above the rest of the world, the only two national basketball teams who can actually make USA work and sweat a little bit in order to win the coveted trophy are Spain and France which have very talented players and really good chemistry between the players but yet, they still can not beat the US.

I hope the Mundobasket (FIBA basketball world cup) will be very interesting and pleasurable to watch....

Good luck to team USA from Israel.
Click to expand...

We SHOULD be leagues above the rest of the other countries, but they only beat Spain by 11 in 2008 and only by 7 in 2012. Spain shows up, these guys have been playing together for a while. I don't think its as big of a sweep as you would imagine.
 
As a Bosnian, I have to agree with TheJewishKing in saying you guys are worrying too much. kD or no KD, the US are still favorites, by quite some margin.
 
Dreadnought said:
We SHOULD be leagues above the rest of the other countries, but they only beat Spain by 11 in 2008 and only by 7 in 2012. Spain shows up, these guys have been playing together for a while. I don't think its as big of a sweep as you would imagine.
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Look, as I was saying before this basketball world cup won't be very hard for the US national basketball team if they play together and leave the eggo aside, USA is more talented then anyother team in this tournament, you don't need me to tell you that, I am a fan on all these basketball tournaments whether it's the mondubasket or the Eurobasket, therefore, I was able to follow and watch how USA performs on these tournaments and usually they play like how the pros are playing with the amateurs in the streets, they are mostly having fun and still come off with the win.

As I previously proclaimed, the only national teams which can dispute USA's status worldwide as a national basketball team are Spain and France, obviously Spain is more dangerous but let's not forget that France beat Spain last year.
Both national teams have lots of talent and a lot of players who actually play in the NBA and doing really good out there.

I reckon that USA tops France in almost all of the positions, also in the PG position, I mean Tony is an unbelievable player, but you got amazing PG for the USA as well with Curry, Rose, Lillard and Irving, the only position where France might beat USA is in the SF, because the way I see it Batum is a better player than Parsons but in a very slight margin.

Spain on the other hand will probably do a lot of troubles to USA on the PF and C spot, it's well-known that with the Gasol brothers and Serge Ibaka Spain is very strong beneath the basket, but those players can also shoot from distance, Ibaka can shoot it very well from the deep 2 point shot in the NBA, and let's not forget that in Europe, the 3 pt line is few inches closer than in the NBA which can make Ibaka knock down the triple against the US, about the Gasol brothers I don't think USA has any big men who is better than Marc Gasol, Cousins is the only one draws near his talent, I can't really see Mason Plumlee successfuly guards Gasol.
 
I strongly disagree when you say that it will be easy for Team USA.
Without KD, Spain becomes the favorite in my opinion.
Re-watch the last two Olympics finals : Team USA was full loaded with talent and beat Spain by a small margin.

And France is playing without Tony Parker this summer, which is a BIG difference.
 
TheJewishKing said:
Look, as I was saying before this basketball world cup won't be very hard for the US national basketball team if they play together and leave the eggo aside, USA is more talented then anyother team in this tournament, you don't need me to tell you that, I am a fan on all these basketball tournaments whether it's the mondubasket or the Eurobasket, therefore, I was able to follow and watch how USA performs on these tournaments and usually they play like how the pros are playing with the amateurs in the streets, they are mostly having fun and still come off with the win.

As I previously proclaimed, the only national teams which can dispute USA's status worldwide as a national basketball team are Spain and France, obviously Spain is more dangerous but let's not forget that France beat Spain last year.
Both national teams have lots of talent and a lot of players who actually play in the NBA and doing really good out there.

I reckon that USA tops France in almost all of the positions, also in the PG position, I mean Tony is an unbelievable player, but you got amazing PG for the USA as well with Curry, Rose, Lillard and Irving, the only position where France might beat USA is in the SF, because the way I see it Batum is a better player than Parsons but in a very slight margin.

Spain on the other hand will probably do a lot of troubles to USA on the PF and C spot, it's well-known that with the Gasol brothers and Serge Ibaka Spain is very strong beneath the basket, but those players can also shoot from distance, Ibaka can shoot it very well from the deep 2 point shot in the NBA, and let's not forget that in Europe, the 3 pt line is few inches closer than in the NBA which can make Ibaka knock down the triple against the US, about the Gasol brothers I don't think USA has any big men who is better than Marc Gasol, Cousins is the only one draws near his talent, I can't really see Mason Plumlee successfuly guards Gasol.
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I don't disagree with much of what you said, only that it seems like USA are sure favorites. This is one of those things where I wouldn't be surprised if USA came and beat every team by 20 and I wouldn't be surprised if they lost by 5 to Spain or any of the more talented countries. Playing together and leaving aside egos? I think you need a formal introduction to NBA basketball :P

But in all seriousness, I get where you're coming from, and I wouldn't say anyone is calling in nukes because KD is leaving, it's more the fact that the 2nd best player in the world is leaving and now there is no definite face to the team. I'd also argue that Davis/Drummond/Cousins can more than handle their own against Ibaka/Gasol bros, especially such an old Pau.
 
Dreadnought said:
I don't disagree with much of what you said, only that it seems like USA are sure favorites. This is one of those things where I wouldn't be surprised if USA came and beat every team by 20 and I wouldn't be surprised if they lost by 5 to Spain or any of the more talented countries. Playing together and leaving aside egos? I think you need a formal introduction to NBA basketball :p

But in all seriousness, I get where you're coming from, and I wouldn't say anyone is calling in nukes because KD is leaving, it's more the fact that the 2nd best player in the world is leaving and now there is no definite face to the team. I'd also argue that Davis/Drummond/Cousins can more than handle their own against Ibaka/Gasol bros, especially such an old Pau.
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Your point of view is very realistic, after all anything can happen in a basketball game.
I wrote that the players should play a team basketball and leave the ego aside because the mondubasket is not the NBA, that should be an adjustment.
I am sure you will see in the mondubasket that national teams will always look for the extra pass and share the ball, that's how they play, in NBA the players have a lot of ego and won't let anyone else take the last shot instead of them, so it would be very interesting to see who will take the last shot and how the players would respond to it.

You might be correct, Davis can be a suitable defender on Ibaka or one of the Gasol brothers, but they way I see it both the Gasol brothers are wiser players than Davis, I will underestimate Davis I think he is very talented player but he has still got a lot to learn and I'm sure he will, but you can't forget that the Spanish team knows each other very well, they do not switch their almost entire group every year, in this very tournament a lot of NBA youngsters are going to take the floor and it will be interesting how they will manage to play together.

About Durant, I don't think that there should be any animosity against him or something, after all it's his decision what to do in the summer, he doesn't have to play basketball after the exhausting NBA season is over, he can't time to rest or work on his game, for example here in Israel, in the national basketball team, the fans responds very harshly when an important player or just any other member of the national team decides not to show up, because many people here reckon that this is a commitment to your country due to the fact that you represent it, I can recall that when Casspi decided to work on his game before he was selected in the NBA draft many people said that he is ungrateful and should play for the national team, same happened with Gal Mekel, another Israeli in the NBA.

My sincere opinion is that Durant is allowed to do what he desires to do in his personnal time but if he should've announced that he is not willing to play for the national team earlier, but then again it's not the end of the world for team USA.
 
Tetsujin said:
Well if Anthony Davis and Demarcus Cousins are both playing minutes in the backcourt, something has gone horribly wrong.
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I think you misinterpreted what I said. A lineup of Curry, Harden, Hayward, Davis, and Cousins could struggle defensively. Particularly in the backcourt (e.g. Curry and Harden). I thought that was pretty straight forward...
 
whozit said:
Interesting. Saw this on Hoopshype rumors, don't know if legit or not.
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Damn!

And I say damn only because I was going to be all clever this morning and drop that hint myself.

Yeah, what people forget is that Rudy Gay was actually on the last WC team we sent in 2010 and knows the system. And with all of Coach K's precious SFs who can play PF gone now, there is an open hole. Throw in Colangelo this morning mentioning that after Durant pulled out he got calls from a bunch of agents volunteering their guys and...well, maybe the WC could be a Sacto coming out party? That is unless of course Coach K, given a new SF who can play PF to play with, then decided he didn't need Cuz any more.

On the other hand, Rudy Gay is 4 years older, heading into a contract year, and just got to watch Paul George suffer a horrific injury. If you were him, would you come in and take the chance? Might give your rep a boost...or if we lost, might hurt it. If you got hurt though...so...dunno. Which is why I did not make the earlier post and eventually got scooped. :p
 
I liked Gay on that 2010 team and was disappointed when he was left off of the 2012 team. If we're trying to replace the explosive, scoring SF's that we recently lost Gay seems like an obvious choice. Afterall he is in Colangelo's pool of players.

The thought of the SF trio currently on the roster (Parsons/Hayward/Korver) essentially replacing Durant and George worries me. Thats a big drop off in athleticism and defensive ability. We become a much less versatile team as I dont see us being able to use any of those guys as PFs.
 
I mentioned this in another thread but the potential Rudy Gay selection could be disastrous IF Rudy is picked and Cuz is sent home. I would rather have neither make it than only Rudy. Obviously, best case scenario is that BOTH make it and gel together.....and maybe convince a player to come and join them next season ;)
 
While i do kind of agree with you, i think we should assume that IF Rudy makes it and Cuz doesn't, they were probably already set on not taking Cousins before the Rudy Gay addition happened. And it should be looked at more as they took Plumlee or Drummond over Cousins than Rudy over Cousins
 
HereWeVivek said:
While i do kind of agree with you, i think we should assume that IF Rudy makes it and Cuz doesn't, they were probably already set on not taking Cousins before the Rudy Gay addition happened. And it should be looked at more as they took Plumlee or Drummond over Cousins than Rudy over Cousins
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Agreed. Coach K has already been quoted as saying he sees the decision on the Center position as distinct from his roster decisions on the rest of the team. Rudy Gay is there to fill in for Durant and George. Cousins making or not making the team is more about whether Drummond or Plumlee are ready and whether Cousins can adapt to being a defensive centerpiece and occasional offensive safety valve. I feel like Cousins has a pretty good shot though, if only because that Spanish frontline of Gasol, Gasol, and Ibaka is looming in a potential final match up.

Also... I still think it was a mistake to cut Millsap. He's the closest thing to a Blake Griffin/Kevin Love replacement that team USA had and was an absolute beast for Atlanta last season.
 
Last edited:
Andy Glockner @AndyGlockner · 7m
And everyone kills Cousins' character while MIN players openly called out Love? Just asking...
Andy Glockner @AndyGlockner · 8m
And, not that PER is the gospel ... but Cousins' PER was better than Chris Paul's? And Blake's? And Russ West? And Steph? And Harden?
Andy Glockner @AndyGlockner · 9m
One guy just got dealt for 3 1st rders, including two No. 1 overall picks. The other was going to be left off Team USA for Mason Plumlee?
Andy Glockner @AndyGlockner · 11m
Is it worth mentioning Kevin Love had a 27.0 PER last season, per Hollinger Stats on http://ESPN.com ... and Boogie Cousins was 26.2?
 
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